In a press conference Thursday, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced a new incentive program — this one directed at younger Ohioans
The “Vax-2-School” program offers five $100,000 and 50 $10,000 scholarships to vaccinated residents ages 12-25 who enter the drawing. These scholarships can be used for college, job training or other education.
Gov. DeWine says the rate of vaccination is much lower for the younger demographic than older adults. He hopes this will encourage those who are unvaccinated to get the vaccine sooner rather than later.
“This age group has the most room to grow when it comes to getting vaccinated. With the Delta variant, we are concerned they will miss class and other learning opportunities if they get or are exposed to COVID-19,” Gov. DeWine said during his conference.
This announcement comes after months of rising COVID-19 cases, as reported by the Ohio Department of Health, most of those cases among the unvaccinated. The recent surge of cases is driven by children ages 18 and below, who comprise nearly 3 in 10 infections statewide.
Amid the surge, only about 8,700 Ohioans on average are receiving the COVID-19 vaccine per day. At this rate, it would take about a year until 80% of Ohio’s 11.7 million residents are vaccinated (not accounting for the roughly 1.4 million with natural immunity acquired through infection).
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